Disney's (NYSE:DIS) underperformance this year indicates investor unease surrounding ESPN, says RBC's Steven Cahall. A sale or spin of the unit would thus eliminate an overhang and put Disney more "in-play" for M&A.

He thinks Disney may be able to find a financial buyer of ESPN for $22B for an 80% stake, or $2 per share, fully taxed.

Eight of these ten are trailing the S&P 500 this year, including the three European stocks (Deutsche Telekom, Novartis, and Unilever), and all of the names except Google sell for less than 20x 2017 estimates.

At just 10x earnings, Toll Brothers, Citi, and Delta are better ways to play an improving economy than Caterpillar at nearly 30x.

As for the "pricey" Google, it's an example of the Buffett maxim that he'd rather buy a wonderful business at a fair price rather than a fair business at a wonderful price.

Barron's top picks for 2016 as a group are trailing the S&P 500 by more than 600 basis points.

Disney-backed (NYSE:DIS) streaming TV platform BAMTech may be losing HBO as a customer, according to the New York Post.

The premium pay-TV channel is looking to exit its contract sometime next year, which could be prompted by the fact that HBO is owned by Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), which is in the process of being acquired by telecom AT&T. Sources say it is has also been investing in developing its own in-house streaming capabilities.

Disney owns a third of BAMTech, but is widely expected to become a much bigger shareholder.

An exclusive live-stream, hosted by People, to be available on Twitter (TWTR+0.9%) and feature a Q&A session with the film's director and select cast members along with unseen Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (DIS+0.5%) content.

Disney (NYSE:DIS) says ESPN lost ~2M subscribers in FY 2016, marking the lowest number of subscribers for the sports network since 2005, according to an SEC filing.

ESPN subscriptions fell by 2.2% to 90M for the third straight annual decline, but it's at least a slower rate of decline than 2015's 3.2% fall to 92M and 2014's 4% slide to 95M after peaking at 99M in 2013.

Declining income at ESPN weighed on the company's Q4 results earlier this month, as operating income at DIS cable networks fell 13% Y/Y to $1.45B, including a 13% drop in ESPN ad revenue.

Frozen, retaining the all-time five-day (Wednesday through Sunday) Thanksgiving period record of $93.4M, drew $1.2M from Tuesday previews in 2013. The top record on the benchmark belongs to Despicable Me 2 at $4.7M (July 2013).

Analyst Daniel Salmon considers CBS fairly valued, to become a "deal stock" regarding prospective Viacom merger and notes several catalysts, including an accelerated buyback, have already been worked through. Would become "fundamentally productive" on shares in the mid-$50s.

Talks with the NBA, MLB, NFL, MLS and elsewhere involving live game rights are reported to have taken place in recent months.

Broad and varied interest across offerings is indicated, with scouting for potential content usage from those majors mentioned above, The Walt Disney Company's ESPN (NYSE:DIS) and Univision Communications to ONE World Sports highlighted.

Despite various complications revolving around the securing of sports rights, Amazon (AMZN+2.3%) undoubtedly has the platform and potential to make such an effort worth pursuing.